P is for Perfect Plastic!

I don't, as a rule, 'rate' Timpo, Britains, Airfix, Marx, MPC, Starlux or Elastolin, nor the tranche of smaller companies immediately at their heels, simply because they were huge, popular and ran for a while, churning out millions of figures, from, often, ever-changing line-ups.

 

This is not to say I don't enjoy them, or appreciate them, just that it's box-ticking stuff which is all over the internet, in all the books, and the first things to be waded-through on Blogs or forums! Tables often groan under the weight of them at shows!

 

But, I do have a soft spot for the smaller-scale output of Elastolin, Merten and Starlux, so it's always nice to add a few to the master 'samples', and I bought this little lot at Sandown Park the other week, all Elastolin, and all 'clean', with no damage, little or no play-wear, and the correct weapons.

 

Romans

 

Huns versus Rus!

 

 Normans / Anglo-Saxons

 

Medieval

The sculpting of the plastics was a high-point of toy soldier production, although the price of Elastolin was always at a point where the use of the word 'toy' was a moot point! I do have a reasonable sample, indeed, a Journalist, sent to my home many years ago, went through it, and talked me out of one of the better Normans! But they are regularly added to, and one day they'll probably be used to illustrate the A-Z blog-entry, when I get round to it?

T is for Two - Far West Frenchies!

The last Sandown Park show was quite good for Wild West stuff, and in addition to the sets in the opener, and some Dulcop in a future post, I managed to pick this French production up, with established sellers Steve Vickers and John Begg , both stalled-out in the main/first hall, extracting not-many of my shekels, for this pair.

 

Starlux boxed stage coach; the trouble with boxed items like these, is that they are only ever box-tickers, by which I mean they sit there looking pretty, but can't be played with either in a child-like fashion, or something more formal and war-gamey! They can't be handled like loose figures, or compared closely with others, or not without getting them out of their packaging which can often lead to damage to the inserts, mounting cards, trays etc.

 

I believe I read somewhere that the coach itself was bought in from someone else, Manurba (?), or someone like that, and given Starlux horses and outrider, but I, or the person who said it, may be making that up, because the slip-in trays for the horses, are similar to other makers systems, like my own Cofalu set?

 

I also picked up this bag of 'bazaar' figures from France, as close to a generic as you can get, with graphics only for some child-safety outfit, which may or may not be official, and the contents, cowboys only, so assume bags of Indians too somewhere, being copies of Elastolin 70mm stuff from Germany.

 

 Some close-ups.

Hugonnet, Feral, LSP, 'PIH'? . . . Someone else?

 

1980 catalogue page.

 

The guy running with loot bag, shooting behind him, seems to be not only a late addition to the Elastolin line-up, but to bear a remarkable resemblance to the pre-existing Britians swoppet and/or Herald Hong Kong bank-robbers, not that it matters when the French rack-toy guys were copying everyone, including the other French producers, by the mid-80's!

L is for Lots of London Loot - Four is for More (Sandown, Last September)

It all got a bit mixed-up through the second half of last year, so while this is 'the' Sandown Park show pictures/report, I genuinely can't remember if they are only purchases, some freebies, or Adrian bits which may be free or very cheap, so they're just going up as they are, and some of it might have been filtered out to other posts already, like the ceremonial one a while back?

 

Anguplas Mini-Car DUKW, I don't know what it's made out of, it seems to be a 'styrene, but I suspect - from the ongoing deformation - that it's actually made of a polymer from within the celluloid-cellulose acetate family?

 

It was re-issued by EKO, who inherited the tool in 1967, in a stable polystyrene, so a better version can be found, they are described as 1:87th scale (Anguplas) and HO (EKO). We've seen an EKO one here in the past, and I needed this one for a full - future - comparison!

 

Not 100% on this one, obviously Hong Kong knock-off of the Crescent Saladin in plastic, it's probably the M-Toy (May Moon-Marty) version, but there are several? You can tell it's copied from the Crescent matchstick-firer, as they have retained the channel behind and above the gun-mantlet where Crescent's trigger-bar sat in the fired position, although they have filled-in the cocking 'T' channel!

 

A small group of mini-vehicles to add to all the others, with the exception of the 'Manurba' wagon, they are all the slightly better and/or larger ones with separate wheels, to the moulded-in wheeled ones we looked at a while ago in more detail, but three or four manufactures are here, and I didn't take notes on any marks, so for now, just a pretty picture!

Nice painted paratrooper, probably a BR Moulds one, rather than the Airfix version (no pin-mark at the front of the base, slightly smaller), and useful parts for a whole and two half Kinder horses, although the connector is interchangeable, the colours not so!

 

Then a lovely Arab on horseback, in pretty-much 1:76th (HO-OO compatible) scale, standing on a box-plinth which could be for snuff, but it's more likely aimed for something like pills, or dressmaker's pins; matches even? The whole in a celluloid I suspect, and likely from Japan, although unmarked?

Four oddments, a Blue Box cable-car passenger, a Donald Duck, which from plastic and paint type/quality, I suspect may be an Argentinian product or piracy, and two Tin Tin figurines, from the Europeans, but I'm not sure which set and don't have the PW special in front of me!

 

Marx sentry, I can't remember if he was still a 'want' or if I'd got one a while back? Well, he carried two names in one of the issues, so I suppose two is the minimum required! A small novelty racing-car, probably Hong Kong, and chrome-coated, with another Processed Plastics Cadillac soft-top . . . I'm building a fleet! New colour!

 

Die cast wrestlers! Actually removed from key-rings issued by Placo Toys back in 1998.

 

These are a mystery, I think the mortar, which came with them is the Ougen issue of the Elastolin 40mm model, something about the paint maybe? But it could be the German original (painted metalwork?), I just don't know. When I bought them (off Adrian, I think), I assumed they were a home-modelled conversion set.

 

But the figures, don't look familiar, seem to match, may be home-painted but don't appear to be conversions, and that small-square base on the nearer one is ringing no bells, despite being close to some Cherilea stuff, while the guy behind him, shouting and pointing looks more Marx or MPC in the base department, but again, I don't recognise the figure . . . so anyone with any clue, idea or opinion, remarks gratefully received in the comments!

 

As a side note, the three figures are styled after the kind of fashion seen in Victorian or earlier depictions of Romans in art? The third figure is similar to one of the Charbens Greco-Roman, but I've rather hidden him in this shot. The helmets are very distinctive, but if they are the 'conversion', are very well done . . . ? Are they just some modern production which I haven't paid attention to?

 

Three pipes from a Matchbox 1-75 Series lorry - useful spares!

 

Love these! Four tinplate demi-ronde European infantry of a generic (but probably specific - if you know what you are looking at) unit of late 19th/Early 20th century troops, possibly Mediterranean or maybe South American, they might even be the Russo-Japanese war? I only have a handful of this type of stuff in the stash, and have photographed one or two more over the years, so to get four, cheap was a real treat!

 

The footballer looks like he could be home-cast, but the diminutive size says he's probably from a board- or table-game of some kind. The Timpo US Officer will be for comparison shots with the plastics and the mortar looks like a squat version of the Lone Star plastic one, did they do it in metal first, is it Crescent, or did someone clone it?

 

Classic rack toy! Jumping spider with air-balloon and hose . . . Brilliant!

 

Spanish rack-toy! The other 'Tin-Tin'! Funny, as someone else posted this a month or two ago, at Christmas time? And I saw another dealer with a box full of these last Saturday at Sandown's 1st show of this year, so like the Emirober Beatle's a couple of decades ago, or the Comansi rubber Thunderbirds, someone has found a warehouse full of these recently, it would seem!

 

These all came in a job-lot, with no riders and a fair bit of badly damaged stuff, in the 'car-boot' scrummage on the stands before the show's doors open, immediately dismissed by people in the know as worthless 'second grade', sub-scale Elastolin budget range.

 

I rather like them, and they are nearly a century-old, so there! AND, there's a motorcycle, and a medical vignette which is just as good as the 70mm range, and wasn't reproduced in the 40mm as far as I know, and if they are 'unloved' by the BMSS brigade, they may not survive in the same numbers as the 'posh' ones, which would make them rarer?

 

Thanks to Adrian Little of Mercator Trading, as he probably gave me some of the above, and if he didn't, he definitely gave me some stuff at the show, we've either already looked at here, or will be looking at in future posts, shortly!

D is for Don't Forget The Best Toy Soldier Show On Earth!

It's the 39th year - ignoring the hiatus of SARS-Covid19  - of the Plastic Warrior magazine's toy soldier show tomorrow, and I know for a fact a couple of new table holders have sorted out piles of new to market stuff, and other people have sorted out equally good stuff, so there's going to be lots of stuff! If you're looking for toy soldier stuff, you'll want to be there, you need to be there!

 

The next Twicker's match is first of June, so we should be safe from rugger-bugger's and there'll be plenty of parking. Gareth reported a rail replacement bus service to Whitton -

 

Replacement rail bus, Saturday.
If travelling on the train from London there is a bus service

from Feltham to Whitton

So worth setting out a bit earlier if that was your intended mode of ingress! All other details are on Brian Carrick's page - 

https://toysoldiercollecting.blogspot.com/2024/05/plastic-warrior-show-2024.html

To get us in the mood, here's a few shots I found languishing in a folder in Picasa, taken at the 2018 show.

 

Vehicles.

 

 

Timpo and early British bits.

Gun-line!

Steve Weston's tables, he'd started packing-up.

I bought the chariot . . . the next year!

Elastolin fort and their 40mm figures.

Britains Herald & Deetail

 

Jean stagecoach and two East German sets

(Georg Blechschmidt KG or Friedhold Fischer KG,

I think it's GB figures in FF boxes?)
 

Hope you make it, I'll be there, and I shouldn't be, far too much, more serious stuff happening in real life, right now, but you can't keep an addict down!

T is for Tipi's, Teepee's and Townsfolk!

The last of the White Tower Miniatures shots, I could have taken more, but I was really only passing through, and if I showed them all now, you'd have nothing to browse on the website, and what would I shoot next time!

The wigwams (teepees or tipis) are the old Elastolin sculpts, 1st and second type origianlly in composition, Matt does a few old and out of production items, both in the metal figure range and the resin scenic range.

 

While the Wild West looks a lot less wild in the townsfolk lines, with lots of useful bits, a full-length bar and pool-table being the obvious stand-outs here, however the blacksmiths forge is also a nice piece, and you can see the Lone Star kids in the first shot, their tool never turned-up in the Marlborough-Dorset production, and seems to have been lost.

White Tower are still here;

https://whitetowerminiatures.co.uk/

 

H is for How They Come In - London, December

The last show report of the year, and I've sort of caught-up, although there's a lot of older stuff still in the long-queue to be cleared, one day/some day. I've done them as one post, so there's a lot to get through, including two of the most interesting figures to come in this year, or any year, and they were both given to me.

 

Also, and genuinely without trying, I see that both the 2017 target of 468-posts and the best month (which I think was 81-posts a few years ago) are within my grasp, if I can get about 17 posts out in the next 7-days, so apologies if I post some crap to get there, but I'll have a go, although I am working five of them, so it's a tall order I may fall short on!

So, it's just gone 2pm, and as soon as I've blurbed this up, I've a Crimbo-dinner to cook, so let's get on, you often see these in this pinky-red, good ones are actually very red, but it's an unstable dye in the plastic which fades with ultra-violet light action.

 

Reisler, and I assume they did the whole set, although I've never seen the motorcycle or female soldier in this scheme, which could be a take on some African peacekeeper thing from the 1960's, the figures are always finished in an Afro-Caribbean skin-tone, as well as the loud uniforms? Anyone got any ideas?

My third (? I think?) Cavendish on the left, and not as explosive as the previously mentioned pair! Sadly, when Cavendish inherited the Britains Eyes Right stuff, they seemed to drop these, but they are lovely in their own right.

 

On the right a French premium, but in the middle a very interesting figure of an American Indian warrior with a swivel head? He might be Hong Kong, but isn't marked, he could be Argentine, but isn't marked, might he be Polish or Hungarian? Or even French bazaar?

Steve Vicker's gave me this, because he'd forgotten he had it and didn't know what it was, and while I did briefly discuss it with him, in case he wanted to change his mind and ask for some shekels, he was happy I have it, and it wasn't until I got it home and had a proper look at it that I realised it's very interesting indeed.

 

Obviously, it's a copy of an Elastolin Landsknecht gunner, but 1) it's in the same hard, dense PVC of the Azur-Culpitt-Injectaplastic-JSP (Jouets Super Plastic)-Prior-Rena family of PVC output, and B) it is carrying a base identical to the late Britains Herald Hong Kong production of Trojans and the Roman charioteer, when he - as over-production - was given a base and sold out of shop stock boxes with the Greeks.

We looked at them last here, and you can see this one has a 'NO 514' on the slightly smaller base (I suspect the figures is a straight lift from the 40-mil'), while they are randomly -618 or -619? But it raises the possibility that the/a factory in Hong Kong, being used by, or even owned by Britains, possibly the - previously mentioned here in passing - Herald Metal & Plastic of Kowloon, are going to link all the above together, and may also have been responsible for some of those generic antiqued pencil sharpeners, copied from the Spanish, and from which (one of the cannons) this chap probably came, with another pose/figure?

 

It's not that clear-cut, as we know some of the above were credited to Macau, and two or more factories could obtain the same dense pink vinyl I'm sure, but it opens up new possibilities for avenues of inquiry, and I'm very grateful to Steve for giving it to me, to share with you, to extend the conversation, as it were?

I was a bit disappointed with these, they looked lovely in the bag, but when I got them home they were just repaints with a replacement stretcher, but I think I have a spare stretcher somewhere, so I'll make good on the investment at some point, late'ish Tim-Mee, and nothing to get too excited about without the dog, but I think I have him too, somewhere!

 

Gareth Morgan also gave me an early Christmas present in this Hong Kong copy stagecoach, it's got a little bit of damage to the luggage-rail, but I know I have a battered one in the spares, and I think a careful mend with have it back to parade-finish, they are clean-breaks at either end, and I have the driver, because we saw him here, not that long ago! While the catapult-plane is missing all its flying surfaces, but is a first example, and was from a cheapie rummage tray!

 

These two were from Mercator's cheapie tray, and I got them as the Frenchman is quite unusual, and the 'Afrika Korps' finished German even more so, I think they were marked, or one of them was, but I haven't got time to look for them now, so they can come round again, or I'll look them-up this evening and add something here?

 

Frenchie is marked Durso, a Belgian producer of composition figures, while the DAK chappie is unmarked and appears to be chalkware which could make him Belgian also, or French?

 

Also from the cheapie trays, were a few more hollow-cast lead 'Khaki Infantry', again, we'll return to them another day, but if you follow the Blog, you'll know I've had several lots like this in recent years, and am getting a half-decent sample of these types, whether originals or copies - as per one of the pair in the middle?!!

 

Well, this is getting silly now! A forth Argentine copy of the Timpo Hopalong Cassidy, but this one in more realistic decoration/plastic colours than the previous three! Along with two Lone Star because they were clean and unbroken!

 

And . . . having had the lovely Landsknecht gunner from Steve, Adrian Little gave me the figure in the middle, who looks to be composition, but is a crude plastic figure! And again he gave it to me because he didn't know what it was, I guess we both hope one of you do, Loyal Readers! I guess some Tourist thing, but where from? Lancers in black with New York cop hats? South America, smaller European state? Mystery figure, the second in one show! And unusual to be holding the lance in the left-hand?

 

To either side of him are a nice marbled Hilco infantryman and a dog with two locating-studs who is technically as interesting as anything else unknown, but I know he won't be rated the same as the Landsknecht or lancer by most of you!

 

Three clean ceremonials, with - from the left - Hilco, Charbens and believed to be Trojan, I don't think I had the Hilco previously, and the Charbens soldiery seem harder to find than their Bandsmen, who are very common?

 

Is it a Tresco? I don't know, but it's about the fifth in the collection and we've seen a couple of others from Brian B or on evilBay, so there are many variants of the Tresco original to track-down! It must have been one of the most widely used novelty items of childhood, ever, and you can still find new issues/piracies now, forty or fifty years after anyone wore something like that underwater!

 

And a little whitemetal bicycle?

The Gopher/Groundhog actually has a damaged (missing!) tail, but is unknown to me, so came into the stash as a first sample, while the Totem Pole was a speculative purchase against my not knowing in the moment what I had, but I think I do have one in this colour-way, with this base, as well-preserved, so one day I'll have to move one on!

 

In the bag with the gopher were a 'Funimal', an Aristocat premium and the two Kinder solids between them.

 

I'm not sure on the Pirate, he's sort of half Ideal, half Hing Fat, and I have half-an-idea I should half-know him, so I guess he'll be returning, when I remember! The Timpo copy obviously went with the Tim-Mee's above but was in a seperate rummage tray, while the ABC copy of Herald's ACW had good paint!

 

Blue Box doll's house lady, the 'atomic family's' stay-at-home housewife, all dressed up to do dinner after receiving her new Hoover from under the tree - no, she really, really wanted it! And a space-man rider/driver, I don't recall seeing before? He/she/it has a plug-in polyethylene or nylon ariel thingy, but is otherwise polystyrene and of a crudity that points to Hong Kong.

Hopefully, like with the recent Lady Penelope Chitty Chitty Bang Bang figure, the two Paul's will find and post the correct figure for their self-awarded brownie-points soon, and I can add a note here, and we'll all know!

Couple of make weights, a Gemodels/Festival I don't think I had, or if I do, in a different coloured coat maybe? And another of the now confirmed Blue Box firefighters, loose.

 

The organisers of the show, Guideline Publications, were giving these to anyone who wanted one, upon entry, and there are supposed to be instructions on their website, but I'm damned if I can find them, so? However, it should be easy enough to put together, one day, looks to be about 1:24th, and possibly a Model-T?

 

So less than 50-items in total, barely a cupped-handful, probably my least show-plunder ever, but I was being careful, and it's full of interesting things, Thanks to Adrian, Gareth, Guideline and Steve for the freebies!

Right! It's nearly four-o'clok, I must start cooking or |I'll be eating at midnight! Happy Christmas all!